dancing in the street

Friday 11 September

Hondarrubia, Espana


Well there we were, resigned to the leaving of San Sebastian and a long 8 1/2 hour return drive to Penestin with the sun scorching down.  But . . . we found this gem of a town, Hondarrubia, just before leaving France and stopped for lunch - right at the tail end of their annual festival!

Great Alpine type houses and cafes (well Pyrenean type really I suppose - ha ha) - and so strange, but so beautiful, right next to the sea.  You can even spot an open air escalator right in the middle of the town!!! Amazing!!

There were loads of flags out for the Festival of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

I found this out about the festival:

The main festivity of Hondarribia takes place between the 7th and the 11th of September in honour to the patron saint, the Virgin of Guadalupe.The biggest celebration within the festivity is called the "Alarde" which occurs on September 8th. The Alarde is a military procession held to celebrate the vows made to the Virgin of Guadalupe in 1639 in gratitude for breaking the siege imposed on the town by French troops.However, the Alarde is just one of many activities taking place during those five days in Hondarribia, since there are also concerts, Basque dance, Basque sport exhibitions, activities for children and much more.

We discovered there was going to be dancing in one of the squares that evening for the final night of the fiesta and it was a hard to draw ourselves away . . .

and all this so close to France - that's Biarritz just across the estuary!  

MUST return here some day for a longer stay.

And now you can read about our weekend back in France - just click here.

Or if you'd rather start at the beginning of the holiday, then click here